8^ 



THi: FKAt'TlCAL GAKDENKR. 



lor some time witli safety. When the seeds are observed to be 

 perfectly ripened, they should be gathered immediately, as the 

 procrastination of a single day often defeats the object in view, 

 particularly in wet and windy seasons, as has been the case at 

 the very time we were writing this article. High winds and 

 rain have followed so closely, that we have been unable, with 

 all diligence, to collect a single bushel of this seed. The fol- 

 lowing extract we are induced to give upon this subject from 

 Nicol's Planters' Calendar, edited by Sang, a very respectable 

 and excellent nurseryman ; and we are the more induced to 

 adopt this step as it is in unison with our own ideas upon the 

 subject, although differing in principle from that of some of 

 the writers of the present day : — In gathering elm-seed, it 

 should be chosen from the tallest, and most handsome, and 

 healthy trees. Indeed, in every case, seeds should be col- 

 lected from the most promising and healthy trees of their kind. 

 Plants, like animals, in some measure, convey to their progeny 

 their appearance and habits, whether good or bad. Therefore, 

 although a tree have an abundance of apparently perfect seeds, 

 if it be either visibly diseased, or be an ill-formed plant, not 

 a seed should be collected from it. It is well known that 

 disease and deformity in plants frequently do not prevent them 

 from abundantly procreating their species. Indeed, in gar- 

 dening, we always find that retrenching the roots of very 

 healthful young plants is the surest method to throw them into 

 fruit ; though such retrenchment evidently makes the plant less 

 healthy than it previously was." 



As the English elm seldom, if ever, ripens seed in Britain, 

 its best mode of propagation is by grafting on the Scotch elm, 

 and not by layers, which is so generally the case. Grafting 

 elms has been long a practice amongst nurserymen ; and 

 Langley relates a case of a nurseryman at Brentford-End, who 

 purposed obtaining a patent from George the First for graft- 

 ing and budding the English elm upon the Dutch elm, with a 

 view to improve the growth of the former ; and Virgil asserts, 

 but which we much doubt the truth of, that a union will 

 take ])lace between the elm and the oak. Our ingenious 

 countryman, Evelyn, speaks of the grafting of elms as being 

 known and practised in his day. 



